


My Picture of You

by Bella_Monoxide



Series: The Little Things... in the Apocalypse [2]
Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Fluff, Judith is two years old, M/M, Prison setting, They never left
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-21
Updated: 2015-03-21
Packaged: 2018-03-18 21:32:56
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,369
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3584838
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bella_Monoxide/pseuds/Bella_Monoxide
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dealing with the aftermath...</p>
            </blockquote>





	My Picture of You

**Author's Note:**

> A big thank you to my beta reader, pharmtechgirl71, you are the best!

When Daryl woke up the next day, he was relaxed and ready to tackle the day ahead. He felt thankful for that, since it did not happen often. Aside from the beds not being very comfortable to begin with, their whole sitation was not exactly ideal when it came to restful sleep. Being in the apocalyptic world, even in the relative safety of the prison, brought that with it.

Even though Daryl was used to sleeping on the forest floor during hunts before all this had happened, he found it hard to relax these days. Besides, he was not exactly getting any younger, needing reading glasses and all, he huffed to himself. But maybe storytime with Lil'Asskicker had contributed to his state this morning, he mused, as he went down to their eating area for breakfast.

Seeing the other members of the group reminded him of his plan from last night, and he looked around for Rick. Suddenly, Glenn appeared at his side, smiling. "Morning Daryl! How did your storytime go with Judith last night?" he asked him, trying hard to keep a straight face.

Daryl felt floored. Damn, he thought, Korean can't hold a poker face even if he tries. So that means, he is in on the glasses. He looked back at Glenn, too shocked for a minute.

Daryl's reaction prompted Glenn to nervously explain. "Ah shit, I'm sorry man. We just thought it would be easier for Judith to give the glasses to you, you know..?"

Daryl turned on his heel and tried to flee, but there was Hershel on his prosthetic leg between Daryl and the door, looking at him thoughtfully.

"Guys, just let me.." Daryl blurted, but Hershel was having none of it. "Son, you have nothing to worry about. We just tried to help you out here, and are very happy it worked."

"Yeah," Rick chimed in from behind Daryl, which had him turning right back around, facing Rick, "you know how much Judy loves for you to read to her. We didn't want that to end, just because you have a little visual trouble, is all."

"Damn. Is everyone in on this?!" Daryl managed to get out, sounding panicked now.

"No, just us three – and Judy, of course," Rick chuckled, absentmindedly putting a reassuring hand on Daryl's arm, in an attempt to calm him down. But he should have known better, as the hunter still did not appreciate physical contact at the best of times.

If he allowed people to touch him, it was only members of their core family, and even then, it would have been a stretch to say that Daryl liked it – or even just cared for it in any way. He just endured it, and Rick had assumed a while back that he did not want to make the person touching him feel bad.

This time though, Daryl bolted. It was too much for him, he needed space, and he needed it now.

He managed to nod to the three conspirators, ducked his head, and hurried out of the prison, as quickly and quietly as he could manage, grabbing a bottle of water and an open can of fruit on his way out.

* * *

Minutes later, a bewildered Carol stepped up to the table Hershel, Glenn and Rick where sitting at, all three men looking rather subdued. "Did something happen to Daryl?" She asked them. "I just met him on my way in from the garden, and he rushed by like a squirrel with its tail on fire – if you pardon the pun. What's up with that?"

But all three men just shook their heads in answer, thinking that their plan might not have been that good after all.

"Well," Carol said angrily, "I hope he doesn’t run out of the prison angry, or it will be on ya'll!"

"He is too smart to do that, Carol," Rick tried to reassure her," he just needed some space for a while. Knowing him, he went to a spot within the prison grounds only he knows about and will turn up again sometime during the day."

But Rick was not entirely sure if he assessed the situation correctly here. He admitted to himself to be very worried about the hunter's actions, but felt helpless to do anything about it, since Daryl really knew the prison outlet like his own pockets – Rick would not be able to find him if he did not want to be found.

* * *

After lunch, Rick decided to take a break from gardening and spend some time with Judith instead. He found her sitting in the common area with Beth and Carl. His son was reading a comic book, while Judith was drawing with colours and paper that Daryl had brought back from a run for her, as Rick recalled.

Beth looked at him questioningly. "I think she is drawing Daryl, but look here," pointing to the sheet of paper Judith was currently drawing on, "he looks weird, don't you think?" Rick looked over Beth and Judith's shoulders at the picture.

His daughter had clearly included the reading glasses, and it looked like Daryl was reading to her from a huge book. Of course, being just two years old, her picture was not proportional, but Rick could still make out the general theme just fine.

Beth looked up at him, waiting for an explanation, but it was Carl who gave her one. "Glenn told me about Daryl needing glasses to read today. What happened, dad? Glenn was quite upset about something. And where is Daryl, I haven't seen him since breakfast?"

"I don't know, Carl. He got upset and went to have some space, but I don't think he left the prison grounds. The people on watch duty said they have not seen him leaving, but I am worried." Rick sat down on the sofa between Judith and Carl, sighing heavily.

"Oh dear," Beth chimed in, "Daryl is such a proud man in his own way, I bet he has trouble admitting something like that. Especially since he provides for us all using his hunting skills."

"Yeah, dad – maybe he thinks we won't trust him to be able to shoot his bolts as he used to do? But that's nonsense, right? If you need reading glasses, your vision for things further away is just fine, isn't it?" Carl said thoughtfully. "I remember grandpa telling me about that once. He had those reading glasses too."

"I know," Rick said, still looking unhappy. At that moment, Judith, as if sensing her dad's mood, tugged at his sleeve to get his attention. "What is it, Judy? Are you finished with your picture?"

"Dada, look!" she cried happily, pointing at her picture, "Dare! He read to me! Story, uniconn!" She bounced on the sofa, looking at Rick.

"I think she wants to say 'unicorn', but can't quite manage to, yet," Beth said, laughing.

Now there was a lightbulb situation for Rick alright. He suddenly knew why Daryl had dreamed of unicorns, or at least he thought he knew. And he had an idea. "Judy," he asked his daughter, "would you like for Daryl to have that picture, so he can put it in his room?"

Judith clapped her little hands at that and smiled, crying "ye, ye!"

Rick took the picture, carefully folding it up so it would fit in his pocket. "I will give it to him as soon as I see him again, alright?" He gave his daughter a big hug, and she snuggled up to his chest, closing her eyes for a moment.

Carl looked at them, affectionatively. "Dad, do you think you will have some time today to talk? I wanted to discuss something with you."

Rick looked over at his son, realising yet again how much he had grown up during the time since the world went to shit. "Of course Carl, how about after dinner today?"

"Yeah, that'll work," Carl answered, and so it was settled.

Rick spent the rest of the afternoon playing with Judith and taking her outside for a bit, where Hershel walked with them. He adored that little girl and liked to spend time with her and Rick in the garden, explaining things to them as they went.

* * *

At dinner that evening, Daryl was back. Apparently nobody saw where he came from, just like Rick had suspected. Someone at his table said that he had been back close to dinner time, but that was about the extend to which he was able to reconstruct Daryl's day.

Somehow, after he had finished talking to Carl, Rick managed to corner Daryl and tried to talk to him – but Daryl refused point blank. Rick, taken aback, looked at Daryl questioningly.

"Rick, I just need some time, a'ight? I know ya'll meant well, but I am just..." Daryl trailed off for a few minutes, trying to get his conversational feet back under him. "I dunno. Please let me be. I'll still be reading to Judy tonight, of course. Promise." And with that, he turned around and walked away, leaving a puzzled Rick in his wake.

Later on that evening, Rick sat amongst the other members of his group in the common area, when he realised that he had not paid any attention to the chatter around him. The only thing coming to his mind time and time again was the image of Daryl as he had been reading to Judith that evening, glasses and all.

Rick had found that he could not resist the urge to peek around the corner of his daughter's room.

Well, he thought to himself, I guess that's what I get for being so curious. Still, he had been thinking of Daryl a lot lately, and was beginning to suspect that there was more to it than just the glasses incident. But what? Rick was completely at a loss.

When it was Daryl's time to be on watch, Rick decided to try and talk to him again. He went outside and to the watchtower, climbing up – only to find Daryl waiting for him at the top of the ladder, looking at him with an expression too close to exasperation for Rick's comfort.

"If you came up here to try and talk about them glasses again, you're wasting your time." Daryl told him, stepping back from the top of the ladder and leaning against the wall in his usual pose, arms folded over his broad chest.

Rick stepped into the room and to the window, looking out over the surrounding fields at the treeline, lost in thought. After a long time he felt like Daryl's eyes burned a hole into the back of his head and he turned around to find the hunter's intense stare aimed at himself.

"I..." Rick started, when he suddenly realised that he did not have the slightest idea what it was he had wanted to say. Daryl just continued standing there, gazing at him, unblinking. Rick felt like the air was too thin and left him lightheaded. He shook his head in an attempt to clear it, only to realise moments later that it was no use.

He managed to mumble some excuse in Daryl's general direction and climbed back down; he went inside and straight to his cell, sinking down on his bed, head in his hands.

Might as well go to sleep, he thought after a while, and stood up to undress. A light crumpling noise in his breast pocket had him halting in his movements, and he went to pull Judith's picture out. After looking at it again he remembered his promise to her and he went to Daryl's cell to put the picture on his pillow.

* * *

When Daryl got to his cell that night, he found it lying on his bed and picked it up. He sat down for a moment to look at the drawing, noticing the addition of the glasses, and he found that he had to smile.

The heck with it, he thought to himself, they did want to help me and it worked, dammit! I need to get over it, and quick.

His mind made up, he stood again to just go and have a look at Rick before he went to bed himself. He had done that more often than he could count during the last couple of weeks, and certainly more often than he cared to remember.

But when he peeked around the corner through the slightly open door into Rick's cell, his gaze was met by an equally intense one. They stared at each other for a long moment, until Daryl cleared his throat and said "thanks for the picture, Rick."

"Anytime, but you might want to thank Judy tomorrow," Rick answered, his blue eyes twinkling.

Daryl blushed slightly but tried to ignore it and said, "Sure will. You sleep tight now, you hear?"

Suddenly serious again, Rick answered "Only if we are ok with each other again."

"Yeah, we are. Night, Rick," Daryl answered and turned on his heel, still a little flustered. He heard Rick telling him good night right back, followed by a small sigh and the rustling of his sheets as he turned on his side, his favored sleeping position.

* * *

And when the hell did I start to notice what Rick's preferred sleeping position is? Daryl thought to himself, as he lay in his own bed minutes later.

When Rick had sought him out during his watch, Daryl had taken in his lean frame while Rick looked at their surroundings, and he had noticed how tense the leader was. For a while Daryl had hoped that Rick wanted to talk to him about something other than those darn glasses, but when Rick finally turned back around, he seemed to be lost for words.

Daryl did not know what to make of it. After Rick had left the tower, he had resumed his watch, but his heart – or, more precisely, his head – had not been in it anymore.

Turning over to the other side, Daryl decided to let it slide for now and just wait what would happen. Funny, he thought on the brink of sleep, that Merle might have been right after all.

**Author's Note:**

> The title is also a songtitle from British goth band The Cure - only there it is plural, not singular (Pictures of You).  
> When it comes to Norman Reedus, I always think of that band now, since he mentioned them in his interview for GQ-Magazine.


End file.
